Halo: A franchise retrospective (Part 2)
Welcome back to the Halo series retrospective! Those of you who missed the first part of this article can find it on The Lamron’s website! Now, we recommence with one of the most beloved prequel games ever released: Halo Reach (2010).
Halo Reach (2010) was the game developer, Bungie’s, final send-off from the franchise—leaving Microsoft to pursue creative freedom. Like its protagonists, the game refused to go out without one last hoorah! The campaign follows a team of Spartans on planet “Reach” as they attempt a desperate fight to save the world’s inhabitants before they end up slaughtered by the ruthless Covenant forces from the events of Halo: Combat Evolved (2001).
Here, we follow the iconic spartan “Noble Team,” whose distinctive personalities made for a memorable playthrough and fueled my infantile hatred towards the Covenant. This campaign has many unforgettable moments, from driving around on warthogs taking out Covenant ships to mowing down millions of grunts and elites. This campaign’s ending was a defining moment in my upbringing; I distinctly remember sitting motionless, just taking in what happened. Moments like this solidified this title as many people's favorites, including myself, will remember Reach.
Two years later, 343 Industries—the new overseeing studio—released their first franchise title: Halo 4 (2012); this would become known as the most decisive game in the entire franchise. 343’s arrival marked a new highly disputed art style for the series, complemented by a generic and “Call of Duty-esque” multiplayer experience. The one saving grace of Halo 4 is its campaign; fans of the series are divided on it, but I adore the story.
In this title, Master Chief returns in all his glory to lay siege to his biggest threat yet: An ancient race of aliens who lived on the Halo rings, with technology more advanced than any found in the modern day. While the previous games kept Chief's story relatively simple, this game dives into the series’s lore, establishing those who created the franchise’s world today—the Forerunners—and delivering an equally compelling threat—the Didact. Everything in this campaign, from its missions to its landscapes, made it feel unique from the series’s other entries, especially the heartfelt goodbye between iconic characters Chief and Cortana, which makes it painful to watch even now.
Following this came The Master Chief Collection (2014), which was a collection of every major release in this series alongside their multiplayer, allowing players of all ages to play through anything Halo-related. Following the release, the development team would be forced to work years over schedule to fix bugs overlooked when rushing this title out to coincide with the Xbox One’s release. Fans were ecstatic when the game was playable, putting in hundreds of hours of gameplay, though, in the same sense, many were mad that this title added nothing new—just offered you a new price tag for games similar to those many already owned. Regardless, the constant crashes, long queue times, and inconsistent server base have caused many people to stray from revisiting this installment.
Next came Halo 5: Guardians (2015), a game with so much promise that fell flat, almost extinguishing the remaining embers of the fandom. Leading up to the game the fandom had the Hunt For Truth podcast series, which detailed new and mysterious sides of Master Chief: A wanted man being hunted by the very agency that created him. Not only that, but every piece of gameplay footage offered untold promise; fans were hooked and practically handing over their wallets for the pre-order. Nonetheless, when the game was released, the campaign offered an altered story led predominately by a series newcomer, Spartan Locke, and his ensemble. Though thrilling, the narrative took the series in a direction many fans were confused about and ultimately loathed. Yet, this game wasn’t all negative—its multiplayer features are my franchise favorite to date. Whether it be the fast-paced nature or the endless fun I had while playing “Super Fiesta,” this aspect showed that the series wasn’t all bad; it just had bumps it needed to work through—which the fanbase made very clear to 343.
The latest entry released was Halo Infinite (2021), and it carried with it the fanbase’s hopes for a return to “Bungie-era” Halo. Infinite is okay; it’s basic and didn’t reach the status of the original trilogy or Reach, contrary to many fans’ hopes. The art style ditched that of the last two entries in favor of one more similar to the original trilogy—what fans wanted.
While it does feel like classic Halo gameplay, this effect is mainly due to the new villains: The Banished, originally debuting in Halo Wars 2 (2017)—a duology neither of us writers has played. The Banished are a group of brutal aliens who occupy the Halo ring, on which Master Chief and his new companions find themselves stranded, yet their presence and the story end far too soon. The multiplayer is admittedly great, especially with the diverse array of weapons and new creative additions like the “grapple-shot,” an item that can help you move around the map unlike anything before! With all its positives and negatives, it ultimately ended up a mixed bag that fans still have yet to come to a consensus on.
Halo will forever be remembered as one of gaming's most iconic series. Though its popularity has dwindled significantly, it will hopefully be able to rekindle some of that early magic with whatever upcoming releases entail—rumors speculating on a possible return to Halo 3 ODST (2009). The glory days of Halo were an amazing time and will forever hold a special place in our hearts. We hope this series invoked something similar within you and makes you want to give this beloved franchise a playthrough.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons